‘The Surface is Providing Assistance’: Tongue Celebrates Five-Fer and Defends England’s Aggressive Mindset.

Despite being dismissed for a modest 110 in Melbourne, yet another challenging episode on the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the fourth Test was also a personal milestone.

“It’s a dream come true,” he stated at the end of a action-packed day where 20 wickets fell. “I’ve always wanted to play in the Ashes, whether at home or abroad, and this obviously feels very special. Being here at the MCG with all my family in as well is the icing on the cake.”

The state of the game is already leaning towards Australia, 46 runs ahead on first innings and batting again on an notoriously lively surface that may now settle on day two. But this was undeniably Tongue’s moment, the star performer with a personal best figures of 5/45 as England rolled Australia out for 152.

“It was a fantastic day of Test cricket on this historic day. Obviously coming to the ground here this morning, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, I thought we did an amazing job as a collective attack.”

“And obviously they’ve bowled well as well. It’s a surface offering significant movement. But we’ve got to just regroup tomorrow and do the same again.”

“I feel like if you bowl in good areas, which I felt like we did today as a group, you’re going to reap the benefits. It feels like that fuller length was certainly beneficial, it helped me, for sure, with my natural angle.”

Defending the Approach

There may be a sense of dissonance for English fans in hearing Tongue echo the familiar mantras about putting pressure on their opponents, playing an positive style of cricket and so on, something England did here by just about crawling past three figures at 3.7 runs an over. “That’s our brand of cricket. We play a highly aggressive style of cricket. We try and force the issue and take it back to them.”

Tongue said there was no specific plan on how England would bat on this surface, arguably unwisely given they were bowled out in less than 30 overs. “We didn’t have an extensive discussion. I feel like we want to immediately put the bowlers under pressure, so the next batter in thinks it’s the appropriate moment to accelerate or put them on the back foot.

“I think, identifying scoring areas is obviously crucial on this sort of wicket when the ball is doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Brookie batted really well. The runs that he got were obviously crucial in a low first-innings score.”

Dismissing a Legend

Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of cross-format success against Steve Smith, but he dismissed suggestions he might “have the wood” over him.

“No, he’s obviously an amazing player. I watched him as a kid, and obviously getting him out is a very special feeling. But yeah, to me, it’s just another batsman that I want to try and get out. It doesn’t really matter who he is. My main goal is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s obviously a nice feeling.”

A View from the Other End

There was a more cautious assessment at stumps from Michael Neser, a leading wicket-taker in England’s reply and a career-long student of the MCG surface.

“We know it can deteriorate quickly on day one and day two, then when the wicket compacts and loses moisture it can be good for batting. So I don’t want to assume tomorrow that the pitch is going to offer as much. It could be a different proposition second innings.”

Australia will begin day two with 10 wickets in hand and their aggressive left-hander at the crease, alongside surely one of the best-supported nightwatchmen in Test history, the homegrown talent Scott Boland. Asked if he felt the green-tinged wicket did too much on day one of a Test, Neser had a brief reply. “As a bowler, I'd say no”.